Family Dinner
by DryadSpeaks
Summary: Spinoff of All My Dreams Chapter 47 and The Smile on Your Face Chapter 30.  Quinn and her mom go to the Abrams house for dinner.


Artie could hear someone outside the door. It sounded like something was being shuffled around, and he wondered if he should go investigate, or just wait until Quinn and her mom knocked, or rang the doorbell. He didn't want it to seem like he was lurking in the entry way of their house waiting for them. Even if he was. They didn't need to know that.

Finally, there was a loud knock on the door. As he made his way to open it, a blur he assumed was Lindsay rushed past, and threw open the door.

"QUINN! I'm so glad you're here! Are you Quinn's mom? You look like her!"

Quinn smiled and bent to give the girl a hug. "Yeah Linds, this is my mom."

Judy extended her hand, and the little girl looked at her for a second, before reaching out to take it. Artie watched, wondering why she looked so nervous. It wasn't like she never met people. Maybe the fact that Mrs. Fabray was dressed like she was going for dinner with the queen, not the Abrams family, had something to do with it. Their family and most of their parents' friends were pretty casual, and Linds just wasn't used to seeing people dressed up like that.

"Artie, the goose is almost ready. Are they here yet?" Beth asked, as she came up behind him.

"Hi Mrs...Beth," Quinn said, "this is my mom, Judy. Mom, this is Artie's mom, Beth."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Quinn cursed herself for not telling her mother that Artie's mom had the same name as the baby she had given up the year before. Judging by the momentary look of surprise Judy's face, she knew she should have said something. Fortunately, her mother was the master of not showing what she was feeling, and Quinn doubted anyone else even had the chance to see what Judy's first reaction had been before her smile widened.

The first time Quinn realized that Artie's mom had the same name as the baby had, she wasn't sure how she felt. It's not like she thought she would never encounter another Beth in her lifetime, but for the first little while, every time she heard the name, she got a lump in her throat. Since they'd been spending time together, she had slowly desensitized herself to the way hearing the name "Beth" made her feel, to the point where she was able to call Artie's mom by her name as she had asked, instead of calling her "Mrs. Abrams."

"It's very nice to meet you, Beth," Judy said, shaking the other woman's hand. "We brought dessert...I hope everyone like chocolate soufflé. Can I give you a hand with anything?"

Beth assured her that yes, everyone would love the chocolate soufflé, and the women headed toward the kitchen, leaving Quinn and Artie standing in the hallway. Lindsay had run off after realizing that "boring adult conversation" was going to be taking place.

"Hey sweet thang," Artie said, pulling Quinn into his lap.

"...'sweet thang?'" she said, raising an eyebrow and looking at him.

His face turned bright red, and he mumbled something about trying something new.

She laughed. "You don't have to try anything new. I'm perfectly happy with the charming, traditional Artie. I've got to admit, 'sweet thang' Artie seems a little...off."

Artie blushed even deeper. "Sorry. I don't know where that came from. Actually...I do. Martin and AJ said I was too boring, so I thought I should spice it up a bit, and then that came out and as soon as I said it I couldn't believe that I actually had, and..."

Quinn placed a finger over Artie's mouth. "Martin and AJ don't know what they're talking about. They're the boring ones, not you."

Artie grinned.

"Do you even know who Martin and AJ are?"

"I know who they are, but I don't really know them. Maybe we should all hang out this weekend? We can show them that you're not boring."

Artie shifted a bit. "Um...I was actually hoping I could use my coupon this weekend. But I just remembered that Michael's thing got cancelled, so that's not going to work..."

Quinn burst out laughing. "Were you planning to use the coupon alone, or were you going to let me know ahead of time so I could prepare? "

Just as Artie was about to say something else, Beth called them and said that dinner was on the table.

As they headed towards the dining room, Artie looked up at Quinn, and muttered, "I still can't believe she wouldn't let me cook that thing outside. It would have been a goose of epic proportions."

* * *

Quinn had been worried that conversation between her mom and Artie's parents might be awkward, and she was very pleased with how smoothly everything was going.

She had kind of zoned out, preoccupied with watching Artie as he quietly explained to Lindsay how the goose would have turned out if their mother had let him roast it in the back yard. She couldn't believe how wonderfully cute he was, especially when he was with his sister.

"I had told Quinnie that I didn't want her dating anyone this year because I thought she should focus on herself..."

The words coming out of her mother's mouth snapped Quinn to attention. "Mom!" she said, a little too loudly.

Everyone turned to look at Quinn.

"What I was about to say was that I am so glad you and Artie found each other, because I think it's been really good for both of you." Judy finished.

"...oh. Sorry." Quinn felt embarrassed, but that quickly changed when she looked at Artie, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"You're not the only one, Mrs. Fabray. I'm glad we found each other too." His face flushed a deep red, almost matching his sweater. He'd been pretty quiet throughout the meal, and Quinn was glad when he said something.

"So am I," she said, smiling softly.

"Me too!" Lindsay piped in. "I love Quinn sosososososo much," she said to Artie.

"I know Linds," he said, his grin growing even wider.

All three parents smiled at Lindsay's statement.

Beth and Steve smiled because they were pleased that their children were happy. A couple of years earlier, Artie had voiced his concern to his mother that he was going to be alone forever because no one would want to be with someone like him. She had always assured him that that was not true, and that anyone who didn't want to be with "someone like him" wasn't worth losing sleep over. Sometimes she wondered, secretly, of course, what would happen as he got older, and she was so thankful that he had found Quinn. She accepted him for who he was, and didn't criticize him for who he wasn't. She thought back, remembering how Quinn had stepped in, in the days leading up to and on the anniversary of the accident. She had been amazing.

Judy was smiling because she was truly glad that her daughter had found someone like Artie. He was so different from the people Quinn usually associated with. He was polite and charming, but it didn't seem like it was fake or forced. It was just who he was. In the past, she felt as if some of Quinn's friends, particularly the male ones, had acted differently than they normally would have, because she was there. She wasn't sure if they were intimidated by her, or if they just wanted to make a good impression, but she did know that Artie made a good impression without even trying. This was the first time she'd been invited to dinner with the family of one of Quinn's friends, and she really liked both of the Abrams.

"I'll just go grab the soufflé," Steve said, getting up from the table. "Do I need to do anything to it before I bring it out?"

Judy thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so."

"Beth, thank you for inviting us over tonight. This has been really nice. And that goose was fabulous!"

Beth grinned, and Quinn couldn't help noticing how much Artie looked like his mom. They had the same grin, and the same eyes.

"Oh, no problem! We'll definitely have to do this again. I've got a roast in the freezer that's way too big for just us. Maybe we can have dinner again sometime in the next couple of weeks."

"That would be great," Judy said, placing her napkin on the table.

"Soufflé is served!" Steve announced, as he entered the room. "I found some raspberries in the fridge, so I brought them too."

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful. After dinner, Quinn, Artie, and Lindsay cleared the table, while Beth and Judy did the dishes. They sat for a bit in the living room and chatted, before Judy announced that they probably should be getting home so that Quinn could finish her homework.

"Thank you again for having us," she said to Artie's parents. "We had a lovely time."

As they headed to the door, Artie grabbed Quinn's coat, and helped her into it. She couldn't help but smile at how chivalrous he was. She couldn't remember another time someone had actually helped her with her coat.

"I'll just wait in the car, honey. Take your time." Judy said, walking towards the car after bidding the Abrams family goodnight.

"That was really nice tonight, Artie," Quinn said, sitting down on the porch swing so that she was eye to eye with him.

"Yeah. We should do it again," he said. She noticed that he was shivering.

"It's freezing out here, and you're obviously cold. You should go inside before you get sick"

He brushed her off. "I'm fine. It's just a bit of a change between toasty warm house and frigid porch. I won't get sick."

"Artie. I'm freezing, and I'm wearing a jacket. Plus, I'm leaving now. And you're going to go inside where it's warm. This is not negotiable."

He loved it when she was firm with him like that.

He sighed. "Fiiiiiine. Do I get a kiss first?"

She grinned, and planted a kiss on his lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too," she said. "And I promise, one day we'll cook something outside in a pit. I kind of want to try it too."

He watched as she got into the car, before turning and heading back into the house. She wanted to cook something in a pit too. She really was a girl after his own heart.

**A/N: Sorry for not getting this posted on Wednesday...things have been a little crazy. I can't wait for me to resume normal programming! I'm writing a bunch of journal chapters this weekend, so at least I'll have those to post, and then maybe I can get a couple of oneshots out at some point.**

**Thanks to my loyal readers for sticking with me! **

**Also...Martin and AJ are characters I created for "Never Knew, This Dream of Mine," a story I'm writing in collaboration with Violet-Shadow (if you haven't read that already, do so now!). I liked them so much, that I decided they needed to be introduced here as well. They will be explored further, because I love them.**


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